For more information about our nonprofit organization practice, please contact Joseph Cosby.
Our firm represents clients in forming charitable and other nonprofit organizations, where we incorporate the entity, write by-laws, and register them in a jurisdiction. In doing so, we assist clients in determining whether a business or nonprofit form will best achieve their goals. If the nonprofit form is most appropriate, we examine whether we can apply to qualify the organization as charitable according to the variety of types available under Chapter 501 of the Internal Revue Code, such as a religious or public-purpose charity, a lobby, or a foundation.
Once formed, we advise charitable and other nonprofit organizations concerning any legal issues that arise in the conduct of their activities, such as the proper exercise of fiduciary duties or due diligence obligations. We also handle legal issues unique to nonprofit organizations, such as affiliation agreements, revisions to bylaws or other governing documents, endowment funds, fiscal sponsorship arrangements, nonprofit mergers, acquisitions, conversions and dissolutions, and compliance with applicable public support tests. We advise our clients on compliance requirements with federal and state regulations, including limitations on charitable solicitations, donations, lobbying, political activities, and commercial ventures. Our litigation team represents nonprofit clients before regulatory agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. We also advise charitable grantmakers, including private foundations and public charities, advising them about general legal matters, program-related investments, self-dealing, donor-advised funds, expenditure responsibility requirements, and foreign public charity equivalence procedures.
Our recent representations include:
- Assisting a trade association in structuring insurance products the association offers to its members so as to protect tax exempt status
- Advising clients about how to avoid pitfalls for tax exempt organizations that wish to engage in lobbying, advocacy work, and political campaigning
- Assisting clients in determining whether to seek tax exempt status and, if so, determining which tax exempt structure best suits clients needs
- Assisting major foreign charity in establishing U.S. presence
- Assisting two U.S. charities to negotiate complex IRS regulations to establish programs abroad in Haiti and the Philippines
- Advising prominent organization in obtaining tax exempt status to lobby Congress and influence State Department on issues concerning democracy and freedom in the Middle East
- Assisting local charity to obtain tax exempt recognition from IRS for building and operating recreational park serving the Metropolitan Washington area
- Advising several tax exempt organizations on appropriate steps to avoid non-inurement issues under the Internal Revenue Code
- Assisting tax exempt organizations in handling dissolution and consolidation issues
- Assisting national charity addressing energy resource issues